Bat Group Annual meeting – 6Apr24

BAT GROUP AGM

We will hold our annual meeting 2024, in Othery Village Hall again, central Somerset. Please come along to have your say in the running of the group!

• Sat 27^th April  @ 2PM
• Othery Village Hall, Fore Street, Othery, Somerset TA7 0QU
• Google Map link – OS map link

We will not be trying to do a hybrid Zoom/live meeting this year as we found in past years this was not a good experience online. The agenda, accounts and pre-meeting committee notes are now published on our website: https://somersetbat.group/about/meet

• 2024 AGM Agenda
• SBG Accounts 2023-24
• Pre meeting committee reports

If you would like to:

• raise any matter as AOB at the AGM,
• stand for the committee of SBG, 
• or send your apologies if you can’t attend

Then please email us ASAP:  somersetbatgroup@gmail.com

Lastly, the first item of the AGM is to review last years minutes, these can be found here:

• 2023 AGM Minutes 

Could you be our new Bat Group Secretary?

We are still looking for a new Secretary. You can find out all about this important role here.

This role might be suitable for one person or perhaps a job share. If one person was interested in the socials and communication (email/web) side of the role, it could easily be split with another person.

If you are interested, please do email us before the AGM – somersetbatgroup@gmail.com

A Bat Conservation Manifesto

The BCT have sent us the following information for group members:

In line with many other nature conservation organisations, here at BCT we have developed a manifesto based on the main changes we believe are needed to support the recovery of UK bat species. This is to shape bat conservation advocacy over the coming years as well as help raise key topics with politicians and political candidates. As our valued partner and network bat groups, we are sending this to you before making it public so we would appreciate you not sharing the document outside of your bat group for now.

In our manifesto, we ask for political parties to commit to the following:

1. Keep legal protection for all bat species and improve its implementation
2. Make all new development species-friendly
3. Deploy climate change mitigation in harmony with nature
4. Support long-term nature-friendly farming through agricultural schemes
5. Improve wildlife crime recording, investigation and prosecution

We would really value your support by reading the manifesto attached and watching out for future developments from us on this topic. Link below:

• 2^nd April 2024 – A Bat Conservation Manifesto

Kind regards,

Abby Packham (she/her) Bat Groups Officer

EAST MENDIPS BAT BOX CHECKS

On Sat 25th May we will be returning for the first time in a few years to check of the boxes the SWT reserves, Kings Castle Wood (near Wells) and Withial Combe (nearest Pilton).

• At Kings Castle we will be checking the 11 existing boxes and erecting 3 new ones. Will involve 2-3km of walking to access.
• Withial Combe has 6 boxes to check, with nocule resident the last time we looked
• 10AM start. Parking is very tight at each site so numbers will be limited.
• Please email Josh if you would like to reserve a space, and for info on the meeting location.

Get involved in our events

We continue to add to our published program for 2024. There are lots of events planned, so come along and get involved!

• Sun 21^st April ’24 – Edford Bat Box Checks
• BAT GROUP AGM – Sat 27^th APRIL 2024 2PM (see below)
• Sun 5^th May ’24 – Harridge Bat Box Checks
• (new) Fri 10^th May – Frome Big Bat Count #1
• Sun 12^th May – Great Breach and Ham Wall Bat Box Checks
• Fri 17^th May – Highbridge Big Bat Count
• Sat 25^th May – Levels Bat Box Checks
• (new) Sat 25^th May – East Mendips Bat Box Checks

For details on how to join these events please see the Upcoming Events page on our website.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL time

It’s the time of the year to think about membership of the bat group. There are currently:

• 59 members who last paid membership in 2023, and can renew now.
• 33 ex.members who last paid membership in 2022, and we would welcome them to re-join. This newsletter will be their final reminder, before they drop off our mailing lists.

We will send an email to each member detailing your current membership status, so please check your inbox (and spam).

It costs just £5 per household to rejoin the bat group (free for students/unwaged), and your renewed membership would then run until our April 2025 AGM, on 19/4/25.

For regular members, you might like to consider taking out lifetime membership, which is just £50 per household.

Please pay your membership subs by BaCs or Paypal then complete our online membership form to update your information.  Full details on our website: https://somersetbat.group/join/

Welcome to our new Lifetime members

The group would like to warmly welcome the following members who have taken up lifetime membership in the last month:

• SBG0025 – Ryan
• SBG0026 – Dave
• SBG0027 – Ella
• SBG0028 – Pete